The Compass

March 27, 2012

Rev. James A. Wehner, rector and president of Pontifical College Josephinum since 2009, is
leaving July 1 to take the same job at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.

During Wehner's tenure, the Josephinum has seen a 50 percent enrollment increase and has made
$1.7 million in improvements to the historic campus. Work also has begun on a $2.2 million
renovation of the seminarian dormitory.

“These past three years have been some of the best of my
priesthood,” Wehner said in a statement on
the Josephinum website. “The
successes of the past few years are a credit to the hard work of those who came before me, and will
serve as a solid foundation for continued excellence.”

Wehner came to the seminary after serving as pastor of St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church in
Bethel Park, Pa. He was ordained in Pittsburgh in 1995, and he earned master's and doctoral degrees
in theology while studying in Rome.

School trustees will begin the search for a new rector. The Josephinum, which operates under
the direction of the Vatican, was founded in 1888 and moved in 1931 to its current location
at 7625 N. High Street north of I-270.